3 days ago
Public confidence in BBC decision-making has been seriously shaken
SIR – I have just cancelled my television licence in protest at the BBC's appalling decision to broadcast footage from Glastonbury that included the chant, 'Death to the IDF' ('BBC boss at festival for rapper's hate chant', report, July 1).
It beggars belief that no one at the BBC thought it necessary to cut the live transmission, which meant that the footage remained available for five hours afterwards. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that the language used was not considered a major problem until criticism began to mount. If this is so, it is astonishing, and speaks volumes about those in charge of both live programming and editorial review.
I have taken my decision with regret. I believe in public-service broadcasting and the unique value that the BBC has brought to national life. But it has lost its way.
Peter Ashcroft
Sutton Coldfield
SIR – When I was a BBC trainee many years ago, I spent six months as a director in Presentation. I was involved in monitoring and cueing up transmissions, including live material.
Such material could be fed into transmission via a loop, allowing it to be monitored for a few seconds before going out to air.
With quick decision-making by those ultimately responsible, transmission could be cut. I cannot believe the technology has been lost. Only the decision-making could have changed.
I don't know which emotion I feel more strongly: outrage at what was allowed to happen at Glastonbury, or incredible sadness at the loss of the responsible and caring BBC I knew.
Sarah Hellings Smith
North Berwick, East Lothian
SIR – I remember Glastonbury as a festival of love, but no longer.
Its politics of the Left – which Michael Eavis tells us we must accept as festival-goers – have given rise to divisive language and created ill feeling towards other human beings, making a profit from the us-and-them mentality.
Andrew Castle Stewart
Glastonbury, Somerset
SIR – It is welcome that the words of Bob Vylan at Glastonbury have been condemned, and the BBC's role strongly criticised.
However, those young people supporting the duo's sentiments at the festival must be confused, since they have been seeing and hearing very similar words repeated in the streets for many months, with little apparent action by the police.
The Government and the authorities need to be much clearer about what their position is on these issues. Fudging things, and simply hoping problems will go away, is a disastrous approach. It certainly won't encourage societal cohesion. Quite the opposite.
Christina McLellan
London N12
